Kate had been alone until her friend Amy had invited her along to a BDSM play party. It was the party that had changed her life, where she had met Kevin and had fallen in love with him at first sight. Meeting Kevin had led to her giving up her fast-paced career in the publicity end of publishing. For two months, Kate had been living with Kevin and thinking of herself as his house-slave, and loving every moment of it. She was perfectly happy submitting to his exclusive sexual domination. Their relationship was not based on abasement and cruelty, but on a psychological power exchange based on complete trust.

However when Kevin announced that his old lover was in town, Kate knew the anxiety she felt was not misplaced. She had learned to be submissive to Kevin, whom she loved. But when Mark came for the weekend, Kevin had explained to her, she would have to be submissive to him as well. Kevin was a "switch"-dominant with women but submissive with Mark. When Mark arrived, something about him frightened Kate, "something hard, even dangerous, in his bearing." Could Kate bear to see her dominant lover submissive to another man? Was the tender love between Kate and Kevin too fragile to survive the dynamics of the older long-standing association?

As in her other BDSM novels, Claire Thompson's writing examines the complex rapport between a bondage couple. The key question is this: For Kevin and Kate, will their consensual power exchange and complete trust be enhanced or interrupted by the arrival of a harsh and jealous Dom? Ms. Thompson's writing is eloquent, sensitive and knowledgeable about the intricacies of the BDSM relationship; however the book does contain a forced sex scene not for the faint-hearted.

Reviewed By: Maitresse
© July 2004